So I’m doing a little research for this here Tzedakah Box Competition and Exhibition, and I ask a Jewish Co-worker (who shall remain unnamed) what a tzedakah box is. “Oh, that’s the box where you put the charity—the donations,” J.C. says. I jot down these notes next to “highly collectible”…
If you still haven’t recovered from the recent hockey strike and need to make up for time lost with Mike Modano and the rest of the Dallas Stars, then the Park Place Lexus/Dallas Stars Casino Night should help you get up close and personal with the players for at least…
Short of being forced to watch repeated episodes of Benny Hill completely sober, I can’t think of a lot of things I’d be less excited about than a poetry slam. While I firmly believe that all pretentious, self-wanking poetry (and the poets who write it) should be slammed (into the…
The best thing about Michael Haneke’s Cache (Hidden) is the way it draws on very contemporary fears without ever mentioning them. The war on terror era has given us all new things to be afraid of; some fear being prey for terrorists, while others fear the government’s response, both of…
The big news about Bubble, the new film by director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic), is the way it’s being released. Rather than opening first in theaters, then later on DVD and cable, Soderbergh and his producers have decided to do it all at once. Or so they thought. Turns…
Urinetown is running at the WaterTower Theatre. Perfect. What a relief that it’s such a wonderful production. Otherwise the next few paragraphs of this review would overflow with wordplay about the show going into the dumper or not being worth two shakes. Instead, let it be said that this Urinetown…
The acidly brilliant art historian Rosiland Krauss once described the mythic power of the grid in terms of its opposites. The grid is a cipher at once of materialism, science and logic as well as belief, illusion and fiction. It is the fount of sheer pragmatism, giving functional order to…
The Aristocrats (Lions Gate) The single joke around which Paul Provenza’s documentary revolves has a standard beginning and ending, like pieces of bread that make a sandwich stuffed with excrement, incest, and whatever other foulness the teller can come up with. Provenza and Penn Jillette recorded more than 100 comedians…
Pop-culture pundits generally fall into two camps: those who think entertainment encourages a nation of knuckle-draggers, and those who say it’s actually making us smarter. In the case of Atari’s The Matrix: Path of Neo, both sides have a point. Like the movie trilogy that inspired it, Path of Neo…
Address Unknown (Tartan) Anyone Can Dance: Nightclub Freestyle (Delta) National Lampoon’s Barely Legal (MGM) Dallas: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Bros.) Educating Rita (Sony) Flightplan (Touchstone) The Fog (2005) (Sony) God Save the Queen: A Punk Rock Anthology (Music Video Dist.) Hooked (Eclectic) Ludacris: Southern Smoke (Music Video Dist.) My…
Don’t sniff the cork—squeeze it, you dope. Learning the basics about wine can be intimidating, and the titles of books written by expert Brian Smith sound doubly daunting. One is called The Sommelier’s Guide to Wine. Even Smith’s title at The Culinary Institute—Professor in Wine Studies and Liberal Arts—sounds very…
For the record, let’s just set one thing straight: Chinese New Year rocks. It very well could be the best holiday in the world. It lasts 14 days longer than Christmas, it’s more than a week longer than Hanukkah and Halloween’s got nothing on six guys doing acrobatic dances in…
If you have ever found yourself bored with Dallas arts, then you’ve obviously never seen the work of local musicians and artists Paul Slocum and Lauren Gray. Whether turning ancient computers and videogame systems into musical instruments while performing as the band Tree Wave or helming the print(f) digital arts…
A fight ensued when it came to choosing who got to cover Jesse Meraz: Beyond Pleasure, a new exhibit opening at Plush. See, both of us saw the artwork at the exact same time and were ready to fight to the death until we decided to combine forces because, well,…
Eating alone can suck the pleasure right out of a meal for gourmands interested in sharing their culinary discoveries. So why not gather the like-minded together for an evening of shared gastronomic bliss? That’s the idea behind the Single Gourmet tapas and wine-tasting dinner next Wednesday. Up to 40 singles…
Having trouble sleeping? Then head on over to Bass Performance Hall Tuesday, where George Winston will lull the crowd into a New Age slumber with the soothing sounds of compositions like “Colors/Dance,” “Longing/Love,” “Blossom/Meadow” and “Boring/Narcolepsy.” (OK, so we made that last one up.) Largely known for his series of…
Author Hal Urban has shared with readers 20 things he wants his kids to know, 20 things that matter and, most recently, Choices That Change Lives: 15 Ways to Find More Purpose, Meaning, and Joy. While we’re aware that there are more than 15 ways to add purpose to our…
Author Hal Urban has shared with readers 20 things he wants his kids to know, 20 things that matter and, most recently, Choices That Change Lives: 15 Ways to Find More Purpose, Meaning, and Joy. While we’re aware that there are more than 15 ways to add purpose to our…
It has become a pattern: Fail in Iraq, write a book. Bush, the commander-in-chief, had Bob Woodward do it for him. Janice Karpinsky, the Abu Ghraib commander, did it. Judy Miller, the WMD cheerleader, is doing it. Now comes Paul Bremer’s entry. Under Bremer’s leadership, the post-invasion government of Iraq,…
It has become a pattern: Fail in Iraq, write a book. Bush, the commander-in-chief, had Bob Woodward do it for him. Janice Karpinsky, the Abu Ghraib commander, did it. Judy Miller, the WMD cheerleader, is doing it. Now comes Paul Bremer’s entry. Under Bremer’s leadership, the post-invasion government of Iraq,…
You might say Millie Dillmont was looking for love in all the right places: jazz clubs, speakeasies and the Great White Way in Manhattan circa 1922. But what this naïve Midwestern maiden really wanted was a modern marriage. Well, good luck with that. A spirited musical based on the 1967…
The Iraqi government could learn something from mistakes made in Germany after World War II. In 1944, when the Allies started carving up his country to ward off post-war religious and class disputes, playwright Bertolt Brecht said, “Back off! Let the people who have to live in the house decide…
